


In the Fall of the Day

by MarvellousPinecone



Category: Babblebrook (Web Series)
Genre: Aromantic, Fantasy, Gen, I know for sure that all aroace people LOVE dragons, Magic, POV First Person, implied sad backstory, platonic crush, yeah it's about Eva's dragon again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27713441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarvellousPinecone/pseuds/MarvellousPinecone
Summary: Spend a nice autumn evening with Evangeline and Maybell in the menagerie. Comes with tea, lots of wonderful creatures and a remedy for old wounds.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	In the Fall of the Day

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to post it in the autumn to provide the certain _vibe_ and even though it's been snowing for like a couple of weeks, it's still autumn, so deal with it.  
> Inspired by my friend who said to me, when I was complaining to her that in this fandom all the _deep_ topics have already been explored and I couldn't write just "fun" things, "Be original, you are a writer after all!". So the working title of this was "fun little thingy". And boy, is it hard to have fun being pushed out of several comfort zones at once! But I did, and I hope you'll enjoy it!  
> English is not my first language, so if you notice any mistakes (grammar, punctuation, misused words), please, do tell. I'm striving to be better!

The sun was going down. It goes down earlier and earlier every day, the closer winter comes to our little town. Fall is a time of topsy-turvy, when nature is getting ready to go to bed, taking off her festive green, and yellow, and orange, and red garments, putting on her white nightgown, stretching, yawning, making sure everything is ready for her to fall asleep (that’s why it’s called fall, isn’t it? No? Oh…) And all the creatures follow in her lead, bustling around, preparing for cold long nights and cold short days.

Even though fall is the sunset of the year, evenings in the menagerie are not that hectic. In the evening half of my creatures are already falling asleep, and the other half are only waking up, so I get some free time before the end of my shift. And of course, the best use of that time is to chat with customers.

You can probably imagine how pleased I was, when on that particular evening the bell above the door of my menagerie rang, greeting someone in.

“Welcome to the menagerie!” I called politely from under the counter, chasing a mermaid bubble that kept running away from me on the uneven floor. “With you in a minute!”

When I emerged to the light of day – or evening, rather – holding a mermaid bubble over my head victoriously, and had a look at my guest, I immediately dropped it again. I had been visited by the Willow Witch herself!

I’ve always liked the Willow Witch – her gentle and kind voice, her grace, her wonderful skills and knowledge and a light magical aura that surrounds her (I’m not sure if humans are supposed to sense magical auras, but when she is around it always puts me in a good mood, so I guess it counts). Every time she comes to town or I come to her little cottage to buy some magical supplies is the best time! I believe that if I were to describe my sentiments to some of my friends, they would call it a crush, but I don’t think this is it. Although I can’t be positive, I’ve never experienced a crush before… But anyway, it’s never been a _Oh, I want to kiss that_ situation, more like _Oh, that exists and I admire it_.

As I climbed from under the counter once more, I felt the calm and softness of the Willow Witch’s presence in the room. Faint but recognizable scent of herbs mixed to the usual smells of the menagerie. Even Theodore seemed to cheer up a little. With the Witch was the most beautiful barn owl I have ever seen. It was squinting a little in the dying light and I felt sorry for the poor fellow being woken up so early in the owl-morning.

“Yes, how can I help you today, madam?” I already felt a grin on my face, the kind that makes your cheeks hurt, but you don’t care because of how happy you are.

“Hello, dear,” spoke Willow in that low voice of hers, in the same manner she addressed everyone. “I sincerely hope that our visit is not very much of a trouble for you, it being so late. It’s just that Díon’s eyes are sensitive to light, and I didn’t want to get him out of the house and carry all the way to the town in broad daylight.”

“No, no problem at all! I- We are always happy to have you here. So, what do you happen to be looking for? Does… Díon, right? What a positively gorgeous bird! Does Díon require supplies or accessories? Perhaps a new hat for travelling during the day? I see your old one is quite old and thin.”

“Actually, we are here for health advice. I know owls are not particularly magical animals, but I figured your experience with all sorts of creatures would be useful in this situation. You see, it’s about his eyes. He’s been squinting a lot lately and his eyes are watering. I am afraid he has somehow harmed himself while on his nighttime adventures.”

I frowned. I had a vague idea what could cause such discomfort for Díon, but I didn’t want to accuse Willow. “Well, smoke is very harmful to birds’ lungs and eyes. I know that your profession suggests burning incense all the time, do you recall Díon being exposed to the smoke?”

“Oh, no! I know about it and always make sure to check that Díon is not in the room when I burn something. And if I have to cleanse him, if I sense something negative in his aura, I use only crystals and water.”

“Good!” I felt relief. Something in me didn’t sit right at the thought of the Willow Witch neglecting her feathery friend. “But he still could’ve been exposed to smoke in one way or another without you knowing. May I examine his eyes a little closer?”

“Sure. Díon, please, come to our friend Maybell over there.” Willow gave the owl a little nudge and stretched her arm towards me. Díon reluctantly stumbled along and ended up in my hands. Willow’s words about me being their friend made me fell warm and my smile widened. I gently pried the bird’s eyes a little wider.

“Oh, I see,” I mumbled. “There is some sort of irritation. But that’s okay, little guy, we’ll get you fixed right away. Just let me look more closely, sorry for the light.” I brought Díon a little closer to a crackling candle while he patiently let me examine him. “It looks like he was exposed to the fumes of the sorrow tree. I am not a great expert on the flora, but there is a tree that emits toxic fumes when it feels threatened. It’s not very common in our lands, but I guess Díon managed to find and spook one of them.”

“So, what do we do?” asked Willow. I saw a crease of worry mar her brow.

“It’s alright, it’s not a big problem,” I was quick to reassure her. “I am going to clean his eyes with water and then give you a healing concoction to apply twice a day – in the evening, when he wakes up, and in the morning, before he goes to sleep. He should be fine in a couple of days.”

As I was fussing over Díon with some water, Willow, completely calmed now, walked around the menagerie looking at creatures and potions and tools. I knew that she wouldn’t be so reckless to touch anything, but I still had to keep an eye on her (or so I told myself). Her childlike interest towards the stuff in the shop, all the things that were mundane to me, made me want to show her everything and then keep working with doubled enthusiasm. I thought about having her as a fellow shop keeper, and how much we would achieve like that. In the end, keeping an eye on Willow lead to a huge ink stain that I accidentally dropped on a parchment where I was writing the instructions for the concoction. I dabbed it with a sponge and handed the note and the bottle to Willow.

“Here you go. The price is stated on the label here, or would you want to trade something?”

“Thank you. I will pay right away”. And she reached for her pocket.

“Wait!” I exclaimed. “Don’t take out your money just yet. Some of our creatures are fascinated by shiny coins and will snatch them from you without you even noticing. It would be best to complete the payment at the end of your visit.”

And it was when I realized. It _was_ the end of her visit. She would walk out of that door and return to her daily business, leaving me in the boring reality after her short magical call. That thought alone filled me with such melancholy, that I babbled on: “It’s still not quite dark, I am afraid it’s not good for Díon to be outside and endure a long journey. Perhaps you would want to stay a bit more and have a look on some of our creatures? Meanwhile I can offer you tea, and treats for Díon.”

“If it’s no trouble for you, I would be happy to stay,” replied the Willow Witch and a gentle smile lit her face up.

“It’s no trouble at all! I practically live here anyway! Well, I… do… live here. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

And I darted to the back room for cups and a kettle. The blend I had here was not as complex and fancy as ones at Mossdrop tea shop, but everyone - except for Mrs. Pippetwhistle, of course - knows that it’s not the tea itself that matters, but the company you drink it in. As soon as the kettle was nice and snug in the fireplace and Díon had a small pile of treats in front of him, I realized, that I didn’t know what to show to Willow. I wanted to impress her, to show her the best and the most marvelous creature I had. But they were all the best.

“Let’s start with this one.” I grabbed an egg that was closer to me. It looked very similar to a cone from a fir tree, only bigger and rounder. The sound it made as I skimmed my fingers over the little woody scales was almost musical. “This is an egg of _Lacertilia Pinnacae_ , or pine lizard. It is actually a kind of dragon, but its name refers to the fact that they have no wings. They are not very large, about two-three meters in length, and they live in pine forests. While their eggs are masked as fir cones, the bodies of the dragons themselves look very similar to pine trees and branches. Young dragons are covered with those delicate golden scales that you see on young branches, like pieces of parchment paper. Older dragons have darker stronger scales, similar to the bark of pine trees. They have very mild docile character and are very smart and trainable, which makes them great companions for day to day tasks. Just the other day I sold one of the eggs to a blind princess from a nearby kingdom, to be raised as a kind of a guide-dog. Or should we say guide dragon?

“How fascinating! Can I hold it?”

I gladly handed the egg to Willow. I thought to myself, that a pine dragon would be perfect for her. I could imagine a small gentle dragon beside this kind woman, living in her house, fetching ingredients for potions, accompanying her on walks through the woods. With my trained eyes I could see the baby ever so slightly quieten in Willow’s presence. Scales sang under fer fingers as she stroked them. I knew then, that if she asked to buy that egg, I would give it to her for free, I wouldn’t be able to resist. 

But she sighed and gave the egg back to me. It seemed like a shadow fell on her face. I urgently needed something to cheer her up. Something truly magical.

The room started filling up with orange glow and an echoing sound, like crackling of fire and rustling of autumn leaves.

“This is the Clockfox!” I exclaimed.

“The what?” Willow asked with a smile as the ball of soft orange light reflected in her eyes.

“Never heard of her? That’s perfectly alright, she is a little bit shy. Clockfox is a spirit that lives in the old clock,” I touched the alarm clock on the mantelpiece. It looked much older than the concept of clocks, as if it’s been here for thousand years. Because it has. “It is not for sale, actually. She just lives here, because long time ago, years ago, if I remember correctly, I traded her clock from some unpleasant fellow for two very rare highland crystals. Not cheap, but said character planned to use her powers for evil.”

“Her powers?”

The ball of light stretched and wobbled and finally formed a tiny fiery fox. Her fur stuck out like flares; her beady eyes looked at everyone as if seeing the depth of their souls.

“She makes dreams! Well, not makes, not really. Every morning she is born from this alarm clock here, and for the whole day she travels the world, absorbing all its wonders, everything that is worth seeing. And in the evening, she dissolves with the last rays of sunshine and turns into dreams. Of course, not all of the dreams people – and other creatures – see are from the Clockfox, she is so tiny. But every once in a while, when you see an especially vivid and beautiful dream, it’s probably her.”

“Oh, I see now. What awful things could be done if someone exposes her to bad experiences other than the beauty of the world.”

I nodded, happy about how quickly she followed.

“Not only that, but you could manipulate people with certain dreams. Could be an absolute chaos! Good thing I rescued her. We are best buddies now. She doesn’t need to get back to her clock in the evening, she just likes to pop in to say hello.”

The Clockfox floated closer to me and rubbed her fluffy ghostly side on my cheek. I felt only the strong warmth that was emanating from her. Willow stretched out her hand. The Clockfox readily floated to her, wrapped her tail around Willow’s index finger and then dispersed in a handful of sparks.

The last sun ray pierced the room, lighting up a cloud of steam above the boiling kettle and was gone in an instant. The kettle was gurgling softly as I took it to the table. I’ve always thought in those moments, that it was being all grumpy and grumbly with that sound. Who would be happy to be stuck into fire several times a day?

I poured boiling water in the cups and the kettle hissed as the water touched the hot metal of the spout, the little fellow was clearly not pleased. The tea leaves rose to the surface, opening, like flowers in the morning sun, and spreading the aroma of herbs and berries. 

As if out of nowhere, Pepper appeared. She and Díon shared a friendly look, greeting each other. I couldn’t help but see a resemblance in them. As I often say, cats and owls are related, not from biological point of view, but in their essence. They are both nocturnal, fluffy animals with big eyes and independent character. Cats are just owls with no feathers and owls are just cats with no teeth. No surprise Pepper and Díon instantly became buddies, even if it might not be obvious to an ignorant human eye.

I suddenly had an idea.

“The tea will need some time to steep, would you like to pop outside for a minute to see some of our aquatic creatures?”

“I’d love to,” replied Willow with a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

“Perfect! Pepper, would you please be a sweetie and watch the menagerie for me? I’ll only be gone for a couple of minutes.”

Pepper chirped as if saying “Yeah, no problem”, and curled up near the fire keeping a watchful eye on the room.

We headed outside. The chill air of early autumn evening embraced us and brought the smell of water and grass.

“Does Pepper often get to keep order in your menagerie then?” asked Willow, amusement evident in her tone.

“Oh, you have no idea.” I shook my head. “Sometimes you have to leave the shop for a short time and expect to find it where you left it. Which is not that easy, with all the mischievous little creatures and big, and no less mischievous, creatures inside. Pepper is great at it. She has earned quite a status among the dwellers of my menagerie. If you ask me, I think she just has this commanding aura.”

Behind the menagerie there was a large pond, surrounded by thick growth of grass that has already started to yellow and rustled in the light breeze, as if whispering the secrets it has to share before winter comes. 

“In this pond,” I explained to Willow, “we keep aquatic creatures that are not quite suitable for the life inside the building. As you imagine, we can hardly keep them in a room in a bucket. Right now, we don’t have a lot of them here, and I wanted to show you our latest occupant.” I cleared my throat and called: “Kevin! Come here, we have a new friend!

The water near the edge of the pond rippled and an exquisite creature got out on the shore. It was a turtle, much like any sea turtle, but its shell was completely flat and shined in the last light of the dusk.

“Beautiful! What is this creature?” asked Willow.

“It’s a pearl turtle. I call him Kevin.”

“Hi Kevin!” she greeted the turtle. “Is there something wrong with him? Is he ill?” asked Willow, pointing at the bandage, covering the most of Kevin’s mother-of-pearl shell.

“That’s why he is here at the menagerie,” I sighed. “He cracked his shell and we’re trying to help him get better. Pearl turtles are unique magical creatures who only feed on moonlight. During the day they bury themselves at the bottom of a lake and sleep, and at night they float up to the surface and let their shells consume the moonbeams. From above they look just like a patch of moonlight on the water, so they don’t have to fear predators.”

This was why I showed Kevin to Willow. It seemed to me that Willow had energy similar to the Moon, cool, serene and mysterious.

“But how do they feed on the new moon, when there is no moonlight at night?” wondered Willow.

“Great question! They munch on some algae and grass, they can eat ordinary food for a short period of time to stay alive, but they only get real sustenance from the moon. Which is a problem in Kevin’s case. The bandages obscure moonlight from his shell and he doesn’t get enough energy to heal. But we can’t take those off, because then his shell won’t be able to grow shut, or worse, it can get infected.”

Willow frowned again, but it wasn’t an expression of worry or pity, but of concentration.

“You did say energy,” she mused. “What if we could include some moonwater in Kevin’s ration? As it is known, the water can be charged by the moon, but regular water loses its properties as sunrays hit it. But if you keep the water in a dark place after sunrise it keeps all the moon magic for some time. Withes use it all the time.”

I beamed.

“This is a marvelous idea! Oh, that would be just great! I’m sure poor Kevin would feel much better. Do you happen to have some moonwater to spare?”

“I actually have a whole batch of highest quality full moon water that I charged during the recent supermoon. I would be happy to help Kevin.” Willow reached her hand to pet Kevin’s smooth shell.

“And I think that this would be more than enough to trade for your today’s purchase. You can even pick something else.” The mention of purchases and trades reminded me of the abandoned menagerie. “But let’s head inside. I do trust Pepper to stick to her duties, but we don’t want to keep her waiting, do we?”

Inside was as peaceful as we left it. Díon shared some treats with pepper. The tea was steaming on the counter, the fire was crackling and creatures were murmuring in their slumber. 

“It’s already quite dark outside.” I noted. “Perfect. I have one more thing to show you. But first I have to put out all the candles.”

While Willow was drinking her tea, I stumbled around a cluttered room reaching every candle I could find. Then I covered a fireplace with a damper. Navigating the room in total darkness immediately proved to be difficult. I cursed myself silently for not leaving just one candle for myself. But soon I reached a crate buried in the piles of soft fabric in a corner under some shelves. When I pushed the fabric away, the room lit up with a warm glow. I carefully brought The Mysterious Egg to the counter.

“My colleague found her in the mountains buried deep in the ground. She likes to be kept in total darkness and radiates her own light and warmth. From this we can assume that those eggs are naturally abandoned by the parents and develop and hatch completely on their own. It’s just a guess though, we’ve never encountered this species and know nothing about it. Beautiful, isn’t she?”

Willow did not respond. She froze with her cup halfway to her mouth and she seemed to be transfixed by what she saw. She stretched out her arm as if to touch the warm surface of the egg, but her hand stopped just millimeters from it. 

“Do you feel it?” she whispered.

I strained all my senses, but the only thing I saw was how the egg’s light started pulsing almost unnoticeably.

“Feel what?” I asked.

“Her aura is just… It’s wonderful. You’re right, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“She seems to like you too. She responds positively to your presence. In fact, she’s never reacted like that before. Touch the shell. She likes gentle attention.”

Willow’s fingertips reached the egg and she carefully stroked the surface.

“It’s so warm!”

“It’s like you are meant for each other,” I blurted out before I had time to think.

Willow looked at me, surprised.

“Take it,” I said. “Please.”

“But I can’t, I-” started Willow

I didn’t let her finish.

“I can’t imagine anyone being a better carer for her than you. I can’t think of a better home for her than your home. You match perfectly."

Willow was silent for a minute.

“Well, maybe it’s time,” she murmured returning her gaze to the egg.

The rest was decided quickly. I packed The Mysterious Egg in a large basket, swathing it in blankets to not allow any light to touch it. Then I volunteered to help Willow carry it all the way to her home.

“But you haven’t even touched your tea,” she laughed, finishing her own cup.

“Whoever made a rule that you can’t have your cup of tea outside is just stupid,” I retorted with much confidence. “Besides, it would be great if I could feed Kevin that moonwater tonight.”

“Fair point.”

“Pepper, could you please watch the menagerie again until the next shift starts? It’s only in five minutes, I promise. Perfect! Thank you, you’re the best!”

Soon we were out on the road, Díon perched on Willow's shoulder, The Mysterious Egg in a basket in my hand, a cup of tea in the other hand. The cool night surrounded us with a fine scent of dried leaves and the sounds of the town getting quieter the further we walked. We were chatting away. Willow made me promise that I would visit her every other day to check on the egg, and I asked some advice on making my own moonwater.

Somehow, I felt that, from now on, my days would be getting better and better, even if they become shorter, with winter approaching.


End file.
